A bizarre video appearing to show somebody holding a smartphone years before they were invented has been debunked.
Nowadays, it isn't uncommon to go to a live event and see people in the crowd watching through their smartphones rather than just living in the moment. In fact, it's probably something about the past many of us miss.
However, one video that has been circulating online for several years has left people scratching their heads about when the first smartphone was pulled out at a sporting event.
The video, which was first shared to YouTube by user @JammyBantam eight years ago, has since amassed over 8 million views and nearly 5,000 comments. Check out the video below:
JammyBantam writes in the video's description: "1995 fight between Mike Tyson and Peter McNeeley in Las Vegas. Someone in the crowd is seen taking a picture from what appears to a smart phone device, or a device way ahead of the 90s."
Watching the video - which is titled 'Unexplained Time Traveller Seen at Mike Tyson Fight' - it is certainly jarring to see what looks like a modern smartphone at an event from nearly 30 years ago. What's even more confusing is that the first camera phone wasn't invented until 1997 - two years after the fight - and even then, it still didn't look anywhere near the sleek smartphones we have today.
Some people in the comments section were clearly baffled by the footage, with one YouTube user writing: "This is the ultimate proof for time traveling."
A second person commented: "That's definitely a smart phone. I saw the red preflash before picture take. This is amazing!"
And a third viewer wrote: "If this is fake or not, it gave me chills. Time travel isn't impossible... so... you never know."
However, it turns out we do, in fact, know.
After gaining traction on social media, Snopes - the popular fact-checking website that has debunked many internet rumors and mysteries - has provided an answer for the footage.
Snopes confirms that although the footage is real and definitely shows the 1995 fight between Tyson and McNeeley, the notion that there was a "time traveler" in attendance brandishing a smartphone is definitely false.
"Although the photographic device seen here does resemble a type of camera phone not sold until several years after 1995, it also resembles any one of a number of handheld cameras that were in fact widely available in 1995," Snopes states.
And although the footage makes it difficult to determine exactly what device was being used by the audience member, Snopes included several makes and models of video cameras that could easily fit the description and were readily available to the public at the time - such as the Casio QV-10A, the Casio QV-100, and the Logitech Fotoman.
So there you have it. It turns out people were just as obsessed with the latest technology and blocking your view at a sporting event 30 years ago!
